Toilet-bound Hanako-kun is so, so beautiful

 

I have already talked about 2 out of my top 3 favourite mangas (those being Chainsaw man and Bungou stray dogs) so I figured I’d complete the whole holy trinity I have going on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Toiled-bound Hanako-kun (I know, it’s a weird name but bear with me) is a manga (and there is one season of the anime, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend it) about rumours of the supernatural beings that live in the Kamome Academy. The most influential ones are called “the seven mysteries”, one of these being Hanako-kun himself.

 What I like about the story the most is that the supernatural aspects are so fun. If you aren’t familiar with the Japanese urban legend of Hanako-san, let me enlighten you a bit!

 

Toire no Hanako-san, which translates to Hanako-san of the toilet is a myth about a spirit of a young girl spirit who haunts school toilets.  There are multiple different versions of how she exactly ended up as a spirit, and of how she died. Most popular versions claim that she was murdered or committed suicide because of bullying.

The manga includes these different versions and plays around with them and that’s really fun and all, but that isn’t what draws those who know of the urban legend to the story of Hanako-kun. It’s actually because Hanako-kun is a genderbent version of Hanako-san and that already makes the manga a lot more interesting.

I’ve tried overanalysing as to why I like the story and characters so much and I’ve come to the same conclusion I came to with Bungou stray dogs: I really like learning about new things through media made for entertainment. I like that makes me want to dig into the deepest depths of the internet to discover more details about the origins of Hanako-san and getting completely absorbed in it. So if you can relate to any of this, give Hanako-kun a try!

 

But I have to admit, I’ve completely baited you this far and I must apologise.

I’m not here to talk about the story at all, no, scratch that. This is yet another art appreciation post!

I read a lot of manga, but holy- I’ve never ever seen art that makes me so astonished with each and every chapter that comes out. As an artist, Hanako-kun and the artist behind it (@aidairo2009 on Twitter) inspire me so much, I can’t even put it to words.

 

So once again, I’m going to show some art and you’re going to like it >:3 (and if you don't, you can fight me in the comments >:33)

 

 

Here's panels/pages from the manga: 

(Click on the pictures for better quality!)

 

The lineart, the contrast, the use of gray- I'm in awe-

 

 Here are volume covers and chapter introduction pages (in colour):

The colour usage? The consistency in their style?? The expressions of the characters??? 

God-like.

 

The art is so good that I’d read it even if the story was absolute dog shit.

It’s that good. Seriously.

(The story and characters is also good, but you get the point)

 

Meme time! 

(Credits to u/Lafuente_Astro on Reddit)

and these are mine:

Sincerely, someone who spent a bit too much, but at the same time not enough, money in Helsinki at an anime merch store because it was full of Hanako-kun art from the original artist

 

Ps. Chainsaw man is at episode 4 now and oh my goodness I'm watching every episode with my mouth wide open because it's SO GOOD T_T <3 Go watch it!